Madam Jinjiao came walking from a distance, her downcast, defeated demeanor already telling everyone all they needed to know.
In truth, even without Madam Jinjiao going out to search, everyone already understood—if the lonely island had been destroyed three hundred years ago, then how could it possibly be that no one had managed to find such a small island in all these years?
Madam Jinjiao glanced at Ziqing, an apologetic look on her face, and said nothing at all.
Ziqing smiled faintly and didn’t press her further. “Let’s set out as well.”
That very day, the group withdrew and began the journey back to Da Zhou, arriving within the borders of Da Zhou within two or three days.
The Dream Clan chief came to bid them farewell as well. The old man seemed to have no intention of discussing Meng Wanyue, and Ziqing and Jun Beiyue followed his lead, saying nothing further on the matter.
“Nanzhao is heading for turmoil. Grandfather, you must be careful.” Ziqing reminded him earnestly.
The affair of the lonely island had, in effect, already shaken the very foundations of the Nanzhao royal family’s rule. All of Nanzhao’s clans would surely be scheming now—once Nanzhao descended into chaos, it would inevitably become a full-scale free-for-all.
“Don’t worry. The Dream Clan keeps to its own corner of the world, and besides, that lot will have to show at least some deference, if not to me, then to Da Zhou.” the Dream Clan chief said with a smile. The relationship between the Dream Clan and Da Zhou had long since ceased to be a secret within Nanzhao—amid the chaos among Nanzhao’s clans, who would dare provoke the Dream Clan?
Jun Beiyue and Ziqing smiled and nodded, when suddenly, nearby, Dream Elder Five’s scolding voice rang out, aimed at Meng Duo’er.
“You’re a young woman—what business do you have staying behind?”
“Father, it was you yourself who once told me to go out and make my own way in the world.”
“That was then, this is now.” Dream Elder Five’s tone was firm, clearly intent on taking Meng Duo’er away with him.
Meng Duo’er, flustered, blurted out, “You’re you, and I’m me. Why do you care so much about what I do?”
“You wretched girl, how dare you talk back to me like that.” Dream Elder Five said furiously. Meng Duo’er immediately hurried over to the Dream Clan chief instead. “Grandfather, let me stay a little longer, I promise I’ll come back!”
The Dream Clan chief found himself in a difficult spot too. Meng Duo’er was, after all, the successor he’d already designated as future chief—it was well past time for her to return with him and properly enter seclusion for cultivation.
“Grandfather, just a little longer, I promise I’ll definitely come back!”
Meng Duo’er pleaded, glancing over at Baili Weisheng beside her without quite meaning to. Unfortunately, Baili Weisheng, post-memory-loss, remained just as unsentimental as he’d been before losing it.
At that moment, he stood with his head lowered, apparently lost in his own thoughts, utterly oblivious to everything happening around him.
Madam Jinjiao, however, took it upon herself to advise, “Duo’er, you carry a heavy responsibility on your shoulders. You should go back.”
The moment Madam Jinjiao said this, Meng Duo’er felt any remaining hope die in her heart, and she fell silent at once.
To her surprise, Madam Jinjiao continued, “Or, why don’t you come back with us instead? I’m planning to take Weisheng back to Nanzhao as well—after all, as King of the Jinjiao, the merfolk are all waiting for our return!”
Meng Duo’er agreed at once, without a second’s hesitation. “Mm, let’s go back together!”
Dream Elder Five, breathing hard, caught on to what was happening, glanced at Baili Weisheng with unmistakable disdain in his eyes, but didn’t make a scene on the spot.
“You’re leaving too?” At this point, Ziqing spoke up—she’d originally hoped to keep Meng Duo’er here.
“Now that our identities have been made public, it wouldn’t do not to go back. Besides…” Madam Jinjiao said earnestly, “I don’t want the Jinjiao clan dragged into Nanzhao’s internal chaos.”
The Jinjiao clan held no small amount of power within Nanzhao, but ranked only third among the great clans nonetheless. Once Nanzhao descended into full-blown civil war over the throne, there would inevitably be massive bloodshed, and what Madam Jinjiao least wanted to see was exactly that. She hoped to withdraw the merfolk clan to the southern seas, break away from Nanzhao’s rule entirely, and claim sovereignty over the ocean itself.
She was getting on in years, and would one day have to leave Baili Weisheng behind—while Baili Weisheng himself, bearing an immortal human Gu body, would never die. Before she left this world, she had to plan ahead for her son, especially now that he remembered nothing at all.
Though Madam Jinjiao hadn’t brought up Baili Weisheng directly, Ziqing understood well enough that she was mostly thinking of him.
It was at this moment that Ziqing suddenly felt a pang of loss at the prospect of parting.
While everyone had been fighting together toward the same goal, no one had paid particular attention to anyone else’s presence—everything had simply felt natural.
But now that the time for parting had come, she realized just how long they’d all been together.
Ziqing understood Madam Jinjiao’s reasoning, but… but…
“But I want to cure his memory loss. I want him to remember all of us.” Ziqing said, looking over at Baili Weisheng as she spoke.
Baili Weisheng, who had been lost in his own world with his head down this whole time, seemed to hear his name mentioned, and lifted his head to look over, his gaze clear, carrying a heartbreaking sense of confusion and innocence.
Such a look, in Baili Weisheng’s eyes—how could that possibly be? In the past, it would never even have crossed anyone’s mind.
And yet, at this moment, that was exactly the confused way he was looking at Ziqing.
“Wretched scholar, you’ve had a rough time of it lately.” Ziqing said flatly, her face full of tender concern.
These past weeks, caught up with the battlefield, with the lonely island, grieving over Xuanyuan Lige, mourning over the lost island—not just Ziqing, but everyone else too, had neglected Baili Weisheng.
But it had been Baili Weisheng who’d truly found the last missing note of “Parting Sorrow,” Baili Weisheng who’d truly been the great hero behind how smoothly this whole war had gone!
Jue Mingzi being unable to cure him didn’t mean there was no doctor in the world who could—nor did it mean he’d never get better!
“Wretched scholar…”
Baili Weisheng murmured the words to himself internally. Facing Ziqing’s gaze, her tone, he found some indescribable feeling stirring in his chest, so familiar somehow.
Baili Weisheng had never really thought about where to go, where to stay. Hearing Ziqing say this, he glanced at Madam Jinjiao, as though seeking her opinion.
Madam Jinjiao found herself conflicted. Taking Baili Weisheng back to Nanzhao, she’d surely want to seek out physicians to cure him there too, but she also, more than anything, wanted him to stay by her side.
Ziqing could see Madam Jinjiao’s dilemma plainly, and however reluctant she was to let him go, she knew—the wretched scholar was never truly hers to keep, in the end.
If the wretched scholar hadn’t lost his memory, there would have been no way to drive him off even if they’d tried.
But now…
Meng Duo’er bit her lip, seemingly wanting to say something, and was just about to speak when Madam Jinjiao smiled. “Let him decide for himself.”
At once, everyone turned to look at Baili Weisheng. He looked confused again, glancing warily around at everyone, and after a long moment finally said, “This humble one… I promised young friend Xiong Bao I’d stay with him in the capital for a few days. Why don’t I go back to the capital with everyone first?”
At those words, Xiong Xiaobao looked confused himself—had he ever actually discussed this with Baili Weisheng? Apparently not?
Meng Duo’er looked over at Ziqing, her bright eyes carrying a trace of envy, a trace of bitterness.
Han Ziqing, oh Han Ziqing—will you ever, in this lifetime, know just how much that wretched scholar truly cares for you? That day he forgot the entire world, and yet his heart, instinctively, still leaned toward you.
Even now that you’re already someone’s wife, someone’s mother, he still remains alone, for your sake.
“As you wish, then. Do remember to visit your mother back at the southern seas from time to time—if… if you can manage to remember your mother, she’d be even happier for it!” Madam Jinjiao said with a faint smile.
To say that Meng Duo’er had truly given up hope wouldn’t be accurate. Knowing full well that Baili Weisheng wouldn’t care either way, she still wanted to try, calling out loudly, “Father, I’ll go back to the Dream Clan with you after all.”